Background: On March 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss Federal Council mobilised conscript formations of the Swiss Armed Forces. This was the largest military mobilisation since the Second World War.
Purpose: To assess the roles of the militia pharmacy officers
deployed throughout the country to assist the healthcare system.
Method: All missions performed by militia pharmacy officers were systematically collected and evaluated. They were also compared to the official duties of pharmacists in the Swiss Armed Forces.
Results: Ten pharmacy officers were enlisted in two out of four hospital battalions deployed, as well as in the medical logistic battalion and in the staff of the logistic brigade that embedded them. Their missions were mainly planning, conduct and control of medical logistics, as well as hygiene and drug manufacturing activities. In the hospital battalions, they especially managed:
1) supply of medical material dedicated to mission-related training, civilian health facilities assistance and medical transportation;
2) establishment and application of hygiene procedures;
3) provision of conscripts’ own medication. In the medical logistic battalion, the support of both military and civilian pharmaceutical production facilities was the most important activity (e.g. disinfectants and anaesthetics manufacturing).
Conclusion: Thanks to their civilian and military background, militia pharmacy officers have been quickly and effectively deployed throughout the country. The role of pharmacists within their respective battalions has emerged as especially crucial in the pandemic context and some of the performed missions were beyond their traditional duties. Their basic training has to be further developed accordingly.